MICK MCSHANE is roused by a band whose socialism laces every line of every song with commitment and raw passion
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Romantics Anonymous, Bristol Old Vic
Tasty musical about chocolate and love from Wise Children
LOVE INTEREST: Carly Bawden (Angelique) and Marc Antolin (Jean Rene)
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ALEX HALL is disgusted by the misuse of ‘emotional narratives’ to justify uninformed geo-political prejudice
SUE TURNER welcomes a thoughtful, engaging book that lays bare the economic realities of global waste management
JOHN GREEN welcomes an insider account of the achievements and failures of the transition to democracy in Portugal
SIMON PARSONS applauds an imaginative and absorbing updating of Strindberg’s classic
PETER MASON is enthralled by an assembly of objects, ancient and modern, that have lain in the mud of London’s river
EMMA RICE’S swansong as artistic director at London’s Globe Theatre was this show and it’s been resurrected by her new company Wise Children at Bristol Old Vic before touring the US.
Based on French film Les Emotifs Anonymes, Romantics Anonymous follows the painfully shy chocolate savant Angelique, who finds love and fulfilment with Jean-Rene, the socially paralysed owner of a failing chocolate factory.
The production has many of Rice’s trademark touches. Never rushed and predominantly gentle, the show unfolds with a clarity and simplicity that has real charm and style as the Breton-shirted, beret-wearing chorus generate a humorous Parisian appeal.
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